The Ph.D. Program in History

at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York

Non-GC Events

February 2 | CU Seminar in Literary Theory | The Second Secularization, or, The Humanities Today

The Columbia University Seminar in Literary Theory meets several times per semester to discuss new work on the relations between literature, philosophy, and politics. A paper is pre-circulated and discussed at the seminar. We invite faculty and graduate students of all institutions to attend.


The next meeting will take place on Tuesday, February 2nd at 7 pm. We’ll be welcoming Simon During to discuss his piece “The Second Secularization, or, The Humanities Today”. The text can be accessed by clicking here.

TITLE: “The Second Secularization, or, The Humanities Today”
SPEAKER: Simon During (University of Queensland) and respondent Stathis Gourgouris (Columbia).
DATE AND TIME: Tuesday, February 2nd, 7-8.30pm EST.
LOCATION: on Zoom, by clicking here. For instructions on how to use Zoom, please consult the University Seminars guide for attendees here.

Please contact Milan Terlunen at m.terlunen@columbia.edu if you have any questions or technical difficulties accessing the text or Zoom meeting.


About the speakers

Simon During is an Honorary Professor at the University of Melbourne’s School of Communications and Culture. His work has mainly concentrated on relations between literary and cultural history and European (mainly British) literature, and he is currently writing a book on the idea of the humanities. His books include Foucault and Literature (1991), Patrick White (1994), Modern Enchantments: the cultural power of secular magic (2002), Exit Capitalism: Literary Culture, Theory and Post-Secular Modernity (2009), and Against democracy: literary experience in the era of emancipations (2012).

Stathis Gourgouris is Professor of Classics, English, Comparative Literature & Society as well as Director of the Psychoanalytic Studies Program at Columbia University. His work focuses on questions of the poetics and politics of modernity and democracy. His books include Dream Nation: Enlightenment, Colonization, and the Institution of Modern Greece (1996). Does Literature Think? Literature as Theory for an Antimythical Era (2003), Lessons in Secular Criticism (2013), and (as editor) Freud and Fundamentalism (2010).